For
snacks, I learned about a slew of healthy options to replace typical
go-tos. For instance instead of potato chips, try popcorn or instead of
pudding, try yogurt cups. Along those
lines, I replace sugary drinks with water or a juice drink. What I love about Capri Sun Organic is it’s a certified USDA Organic beverage made with 66% fruit juice. It contains
no artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives, and no added sugar. Each serving contains ½ cup of fruit juice
which is the equivalent of 1 serving of fruit, according to US Dietary guidelines. It tastes yummy and is
affordable. It can be a challenge to balance better-for-you options with taste,
but since Capri Sun Organic is sweetened only with real fruit juice, it's one guilt-free option to have in my snack arsenal. Today I’m sharing my favorite snack hack recipes along
with a 10 tips to make snacking easier.
First of all- is "quickie" inherently a sexy word? Or did I just make it that in my mind? Clearly I don't mean it that way for this post. It's kale...quickly as well as a short and quick post. I tried kale chips a while ago and liked them. But Joe called them smelly chips and I quickly became too lazy to make them. Fast forward a year (or so?) and I've made them 3 times this week.
I posted about the "Lose It" here. But at the time I hadn’t been using it consistently and I hadn’t seen the results yet. Now that I’ve been using it consistently for about 10 weeks and am thrilled with the results, I feel as though it’s something I must share! It’s hard to tell people about how you’ve lost weight without sounding like you’re bragging (in fact I almost wrote a facebook status but decided I was just begging to be judged). I figured if I posted about it on the blog I could go into a bit more detail-- as well as assure you that I still have a ways to go. Besides my blog friends would never judge me right?! ;) So here it is…
As I posted before, the premise of Lose It is pretty
simple. It’s basic calorie
counting. I’m sure there are some
nutrition buffs who are thinking “duh, of course it works.” But for me, who has never attempted to lose
weight and actually lost it (hence the 12ish L-Bs I’d slowly put on since
college), I was astounded at how easy Lose It makes it. What I love is it’s not complicated and there
aren’t all these rules about the types of food you can eat and how this food or
that food affects your body or your weight loss efforts. Do you all know what I’m talking about? Let me give you an example. Fiber is good right? But oftentimes whole wheat fiber (i.e. pasta
or bread) is higher in calories than regular pasta or bread. But it doesn’t matter because it keeps you
full longer so you eat less right? Or is
it because your body burns more calories digesting it? See what I mean? I am not a scientist or a doctor or a
nutritionist (or whoever studies these things) and honestly I don’t want to
think about all that stuff –at least not right now. I’m aware that all of the nuances
about diet ARE important and it’s about more than just being thin- it’s also
about heart health, muscle building, and avoiding harmful toxins/chemicals in our food. I’m not saying we (or I) should ignore all that. However, with 2 kiddos--two and
under, I don’t have time to figure out all of those nuances. I want to be able to just eat a low fat and
low calorie diet and lose weight. My
next goal (perhaps a New Years’ resolution?) will be to begin focusing on foods
that help my body rather than just calorie count. So I’ll get there…
Lose It is all about calories and if you track them
accurately, you WILL lose weight! My
scale is crap so I’m not entirely sure exactly how much I’ve lost but all of my
old jeans are too big. I believe I’ve lost
between 10 and 15 lbs in the past 10 weeks. I think nursing has helped also. And now I plan on nursing Nadia until she’s
3 or 4. What is that weird? ;) Ok, I’m kidding, but I do have a sneaky
suspicion I may put on a few pounds when I stop nursing. I’m hoping I’m wrong of course.
The husband has also lost weight. The last time I asked, he’d lost 10 lbs. He set his goals more aggressively than I did
but he is also thrilled with how easy the app makes it. Oh and I should say when I say “easy,” I’m
not talking about easy. Let me explain—it’s
not easy to eat less or eat veggies instead of carbs or fat. It’s hard.
Sometimes I’m a little hungry (though I feel compelled to say you don't have to be hungry if you make good choices. I always save room for snacks ;).
And all the time I want to just eat what I want without thinking about
it. But it’s easy in the sense of what I
detailed above. It takes out the guess work and tells you how much
you can eat and when to stop. You obey, you lose the weight. Easy right?
It's also changed the way I think about food when grocery
shopping. For the most part I am eating
"everything in moderation." But there are
some foods that you can eat SO little of that it’s not even
worth it. Chex Mix, and Pillsbury
cinnamon rolls are the first items that pop into mind. Who stops at a ¼ cup of Chex Mix?! That’s just cruel! Or who eats only one cinnamon roll for
breakfast? Ok now that I type that, eating one cinnamon roll does sound normal. oops. When you’re counting calories you realize
there are other foods that you can eat enough to satisfy the craving and not
totally ruin your diet.
It’s also helped me see patterns with my eating. First of all I thought I was being “good”
most of the time until I started tracking.
Turns out there’s a reason I’d gained the weight- it’s called lack of
portion control! I also realized my plan of "being good" (which was
really barely ok) Monday through Thursday and eating whatever I wanted
Friday through Sunday wasn’t really working. First of all Friday through Sunday
is almost half the week, stupid. (Stupid
me, not you). So if you’re eating
terribly half the time that’s not a good diet plan. Second of all you can easily wreck your
entire week by going over your calories on Friday and Saturday. So now I eat a little less all week to be
able to relax on the weekends. Or I
might just have one cheat day instead of 3.
You can play around with the numbers to get the results you want. That’s the other thing I like about lose
it. Believe it or not, it's kind of fun to see how
many calories are in the food you eat and then try to maximize your eating
while minimizing your calories. It’s
kind of like a game. How can I eat at
least some of what I want, but still stay on track and lose weight? It’s extremely eye opening to see how much
exercise it takes to burn off one bad choice.
Right now I’m barely exercising but when I do, I can eat more
calories so there’s an immediate pay off.
That said I also see if I eat a fun size snickers (a whopping 135
calories), it will take me an hour of aerobics to burn it off. Not so fun anymore right? 
Ok I should stop now [is this my longest post EVER]? I just have so much to say about that
little app! If you have a smart phone
(or even if you don’t—my mom uses loseit.com), and you are looking to shed some
weight (anyone go a little crazy over the holidays?) Lose It is totally for
you! I can say I’ve met my goal weight
and have officially changed my goals to "maintain." Now I can focus on toning up—Lose It isn't magic; I still have
Now it’s your turn—what weight loss tips do you have for me? Is there any low calorie but delicious snack
foods I should know about? Please share…
So we're about three weeks into 2010. How are you doing with your New Year's resolutions? If you're anything like me, you haven't even written them down yet. Perhaps I should consider "stop procrastinating" as the first resolution. I was curious to see what the most common New Year's resolution was so I did a little research to find this list*:
~ Drink Less Alcohol ~ Get a Better Education ~ Get a Better Job ~ Get Fit
~ Lose Weight ~ Manage Debt ~ Quit Smoking Now
~ Reduce Stress at Work ~ Reduce Stress Overall ~ Save Money
~ Take a Trip ~ Volunteer to Help Others
~ Reduce Stress at Work ~ Reduce Stress Overall ~ Save Money
~ Take a Trip ~ Volunteer to Help Others
*According to usa.gov.
I find it interesting that the majority have to deal with finance and physical health. I know those areas are at the top of my list. Here are a few resources that may help you actually stick to your resolutions this year.
Sure SNL makes fun of Suze Orman, but I have always found her advice to be super helpful and very easy to grasp, unlike some finance professionals. With books including "Women and Money" and DVDs such as "For the Young, Fabulous, and Broke," I feel like she's definitely got my number!! Check out her resource center for helpful tips on reclaiming your financial health.
Dave Ramsey is like the Dr. Phil of personal finance. I love his straight forward approach. With city billboards that remind us to "act your wage," he never fails to get our attention. Check out his 7 baby steps to begin moving toward financial peace.
Ok so these are workouts you can do in the comfort of your own home (anyone else feel like a fool while trying to figure out gym equipment?) with amazing results. To be clear, I haven't done any of them BUT I personally know people who have done each workout and who have achieved the results they were looking for in a relatively short period of time.
I myself put Yoga Booty Ballet on my Christmas list and can't wait to start using it. I know...you're thinking wasn't Christmas a month ago? Why hasn't she used it yet? Well my 6 weeks postpartum was just up last week so I'm really only one week delinquent (I did mention I'm a procrastinator right?). In any case I definitely plan to use it and will post my review AND results here for all to see! Beach Body's P90X and Insanity Workout (above) are both fairly intense, but you (WE!) can do it! Now's the perfect time to get in shape...what with bikini season only a short 5 or 6 months away...
If you're looking for something a little less intense, or if you already have your workout regime but simply need some tips or guidance, check out Self's Jump Start Diet. On their site you can get advice on eating healthy and working out. You can also log your meals (if you've never done this, try it! It's insane how many calories one can consume without even realizing it) and talk to other members via their community center. In addition, they email you a tip a day to help you reach your goals one baby step at a time.
I find it interesting that the majority have to deal with finance and physical health. I know those areas are at the top of my list. Here are a few resources that may help you actually stick to your resolutions this year.
Sure SNL makes fun of Suze Orman, but I have always found her advice to be super helpful and very easy to grasp, unlike some finance professionals. With books including "Women and Money" and DVDs such as "For the Young, Fabulous, and Broke," I feel like she's definitely got my number!! Check out her resource center for helpful tips on reclaiming your financial health.
Dave Ramsey is like the Dr. Phil of personal finance. I love his straight forward approach. With city billboards that remind us to "act your wage," he never fails to get our attention. Check out his 7 baby steps to begin moving toward financial peace.
Ok so these are workouts you can do in the comfort of your own home (anyone else feel like a fool while trying to figure out gym equipment?) with amazing results. To be clear, I haven't done any of them BUT I personally know people who have done each workout and who have achieved the results they were looking for in a relatively short period of time.
I myself put Yoga Booty Ballet on my Christmas list and can't wait to start using it. I know...you're thinking wasn't Christmas a month ago? Why hasn't she used it yet? Well my 6 weeks postpartum was just up last week so I'm really only one week delinquent (I did mention I'm a procrastinator right?). In any case I definitely plan to use it and will post my review AND results here for all to see! Beach Body's P90X and Insanity Workout (above) are both fairly intense, but you (WE!) can do it! Now's the perfect time to get in shape...what with bikini season only a short 5 or 6 months away...
If you're looking for something a little less intense, or if you already have your workout regime but simply need some tips or guidance, check out Self's Jump Start Diet. On their site you can get advice on eating healthy and working out. You can also log your meals (if you've never done this, try it! It's insane how many calories one can consume without even realizing it) and talk to other members via their community center. In addition, they email you a tip a day to help you reach your goals one baby step at a time.Here's to a financially and physically fit 2010!
